Blade Runner

           Their have been a lot of sci-fi movies over the years and many have had their own degree of influence on the genera, especially in the 80s.  That decade saw the release of many great sci-fi movies such as The Terminator, 2010: The Year We Made Contact, (although it's now 2011 and I'm still waiting to hear about a Star Child), Aliens, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and Tron.  The one I want to talk about today, however, is one whose influence is just as great, if not greater then these films.  This is the Illusive One's Review of Blade Runner. 

            Released in 1982, the film was directed by Ridley Scott, based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, and starred Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young.  While unsuccessful at the box office when it was released, Blade Runner has since developed a huge cult following and is now considered to be one of the greatest and most influential sci-fi movies of all time.  The AFI has sense ranked it at 98 on their list of greatest films of all time, and number five on their top five greatest sci-fi/fantasy films.

            It takes place in 2019 dystopian L.A. where humanity has begun to colonies other worlds.  To do the more dangerous work on these worlds, humanity creates androids known as replicants who are virtually identical to humans in every way.  However, in order to keep the replicants from developing their own emotions they are given a four year life span and have been made illegal on Earth.  Whenever one of these replicants shows up on Earth, they are hunted down and “retired” by cops known as blade runners.

            The actual story of the film revolves around semi-retired blade runner Rick Deckard (Ford) as he hunts down four murderous, fugitive replicants led by the replicant solder Roy Batty (Hauer) as they try to find a way to extend their lifespan.

            Since its release, there have been about five different cuts of this film, each of which has added scenes, editing and dialogue but from what I gather there are two main versions, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.  So to start out, I'll get into the positives and negatives both versions share.

            On the positive side, it had a great dystopian environment, with a beautiful, yet dismal city skyline.  The look and atmosphere of the 2019 L.A. of Blade Runner has been reused, copied, and  mimicked in nearly every distant future film and has become the modern poster of the future city.  There were also a lot of great themes involved, such as living in fear, as a slave and was one of the first pieces of media to introduce the idea that maybe intelligent artificial beings have a soul.  While the groundwork for this had already been laid out, Blade Runner was the first film to really popularize the idea, (although films like Terminator 2 seemed to have stolen all the credit for it). Also,the casting was perfect.  Harrison Ford was great as Deckard, Sean Young was good as Rachael, and the supporting cast members were all perfect for the parts they played.  The one who steals the show, however, is Rutger Hauer as Roy who is all at once entertaining, creepy, sympathetic, evil and unpredictable.  Oh, and Deckard's gun was awesome looking to.

            Without getting to the different versions of the film, there is only one major negative thing I have to say about this film.  The fight choreography;  it was very bland, the fights were too short, and Deckard couldn't fight for shit and only won most of his fights by sheer luck.

            Now for the positives and negatives of the different versions.  As I stated above, there are two main versions of this film.  The first includes a narrative by Deckard and a “happy ending”.  The narrative was included because the storytelling of film was kind of vague and gave it a kind of detective story feel too it.  On the positive side, this version gives more detail to the story and gives the viewer the idea that Deckard may actually be a replica himself.  On the negative side, however, Ford was a horrible narrator and it just sounded like he was reading off a script and leaves no room for the viewer to interpret the plot as he/she sees fit.

            The other version is what I like to call the Artsy/Unicorn Version.  Supposedly this is the version both Ford and Scott prefer.  It has no narrative, the fate of Deckard is left to interpretation as is much of the film, the hints that Deckard may be a replicant are much more subtle, and includes this weird dream scene where Deckard dreams of a unicorn running through a forest, (I still don't know what that was about and apparently only Ridley Scott is the only one who does).  This version I actually liked more because the storytelling was vaguer and I like artsy movies but not everyone will because of the vague storytelling.

            All around, this was a great film, with a good story line, a great environment, and great themes.  Because there are two different versions of this movie I'm going to give two different ratings.  If you're just a general movie viewer, I'd recommend seeing the narrative version, as it makes more sense and a lot more is spelled out for you.

8/10

            However, if you like artsy movie then I would recommend seeing the Artsy/Unicorn Version.

9/10

            Until next time, this is The Illusive One saying, Time to die....

Apocalypse Now

            Let me start off by saying Happy New Year to all and to start off this year, I shall be reviewing one of my favorite films of all time.  This is the Illusive One's review of Apocalypse Now.

            Released in 1979, Apocalypse Now is a Vietnam War Epic, directed by Godfather director Frances Ford Coppola and starring Martian Sheen, Marlin Brando, Robert Duvall, and Dennis Hopper.  The film is more or less a Vietnam War era retelling of the classic 1902 novella, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and centers around an army assassin named Captain Willard (Sheen), as he tracks down renegade Colonel Kurtz, (Brando), up the fictional Nung River at the height of the Vietnam War.  The film also contains a brief appearance by Harrison Ford as an officer who gives Willard his assignment and early roles for now famous actors like Laurence Fishburne and R. Lee Ermey.

            On the positive side on this film...well what isn't good about this film?  For starters the casting was perfect.  Martin Sheen was phenomenal as Willard and this was easily his best role ever.  He also serves as the film's narrator which gives you a view into the psychology of the character and gives a surreal quality to the film.  Equally as great, (but for some reason more famous), was Marlin Brando as Colonel Kurtz who delivers some of the most haunting monologs on war ever to be seen on film.  Robert Duvall was morbidly hilarious as Lt. Colonel Kilgore and Dennis Hopper was great as the crazy, hippie, unnamed photojournalist. 

            As a whole, the film has a great surreal and psychological quality to it, that gets under your skin and into your head in a way no other film does.  That aside the film can also be enjoyed for its individual scenes.  Whether it’s Kilgore's raid on the Vietcong controlled village, the Playboy show at the river dock, the boat inspection gone terribly wrong, the Vietcong attack on the Do Long Bridge, the Vietcong attack on the boat, Kurtz's raid of the boat, Kurtz's monologue to Willard, or the climax of the film there's something in it for anyone to enjoy.  After each of these events Willard narrates his own take on them with a passive onlooker's stance before the film moves on, giving these scenes, which would be normal in any other film, a surreal quality to it that gets into your head.

            The directorial style and post-production editing of the film was also great.  The film editing and the way it combined different camera angles into a single view was perfect.  The sound editing and visual effects were top notch and still holds up to anything they have out today and were actually better then a lot movies that came out in the decade to follow.  The soundtrack of the film by The Doors worked perfectly and helps to add to the surreal quality of film.

            On the negative side...well I have absolutely nothing bad to say about it and that's all I have to say on that.

            Almost as interesting as the film was the story of its making, documented in the documentary, The Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse.  Production for the film was started in the early 70s with Coppola originally as the producer.  Friend and fellow film maker, George Lucas was originally suppose to direct but dropped out of the project after he got the go ahead for Star Wars and eventually Coppola opted to direct the film himself.

            Another issue with the film was the casting.  Originally Harvey Keitel was cast as Willard after Al Pacino and Steve McQueen turned down the role but was fired by Coppola soon after because he felt Keitel wasn't right for the part.  Eventually the part went to Sheen, who was a problem on his own.  During much of the filming, Sheen was in an alcoholic stage of his life and made filming difficult for those around him.  Sheen also suffered a heart attack during filming, which delayed the filming for several weeks. 

            Marlin Brando was also an issue for the cast.  He was cast early on by Coppola, as they had worked together in The Godfather but was nearly as much trouble as Sheen.  For the role he was paid for, at the time, an unheard of amount of 3.5 million dollars for a month’s work.  He was also suppose to be fit and in shape for the film but showed up on the set overweight.  As a result, Brando was always dressed in black and only seen in shadowed environments.

            Finally there were problems with the filming and post-production stages.  It took a total of two years to film and an additional two years of post-production before it was finally released in 1979.  It was shot in the Philippines and this caused even more problems for the already troubled film.  Bad weather constantly delayed filming and destroyed many expensive sets.  Often members of the Philippine Army would serve as extras, only to be called away to fight rebels less than a mile away from the sets.  The release date was also delayed several times, as Coppola literally had to edit through millions of feet of footage he had shot.

            It would later be said by Coppola that they had access to too much money, too much equipment and everyone went insane a little by little during its making and it nearly cost him his physical and mental health.  Despite the great many of problems the production had, much of it worked to the film's advantage and helped give it its surreal quality and when it all came together the people of the world received one of the greatest films for its time and for all time.

            The film would later be re-released in theaters in 1987 to capitalize on the success of other Vietnam War era films such as Platoon and Full Metal Jacket.  The Redux version would be released in 2001, which contained about 49 minutes more of previously unedited scenes.  While all of these scenes are entertaining, I would only recommend seeing the Redux version after you have seen the original, as they make an already long movie ridiculously long.  None of these scenes have Willard narrating and dilutes the surreal quality of the film.  And that's my take on the Redux version.           

            As you can probably tell by this review, I absolutely loved this film and I believe it surpassed anything Coppola made before or after.  If I could give it anything higher than a ten I would and if I ever made a list of my favorite films, this one would undoubtedly be very high, (if not on top), on that list..  It had phenomenal acting, a great story, and a surreal, psychological quality to it that I had never seen before or after and is the closest thing I have ever seen to a perfect film.       

All Around

10/10